bookshelf

WILLOW FINDS A WAY

Name: WILLOW FINDS A WAY
Author: Lana Button
ISBN: 978-1-55453-842-3

From the Willow series

by Lana Button ; illustrated by Tania Howells ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2013

There is meanness and bullying at every level in schools, and it needs to be addressed in stories as well as in real life,...

bookshelf

Shy Willow stands up to a mean girl in her primary-grade classroom.

Kristabelle is the boss of the class that Willow is in, and when she invites everyone to her birthday party, Willow is thrilled. But if a classmate won’t sit at her lunch table or play what she wants at recess, she will cross them off her birthday list. Mateo won’t give up his turn as Line Leader, so Kristabelle crosses him off; Julian won’t wear pink when Kristabelle demands it, so the blonde, curly-headed girl crosses him off, too. Willow then bravely crosses her own name off, and so do all her friends, leaving Kristabelle alone. But Willow sits with the formerly mean girl when no one else will. Kristabelle apologizes to the whole class, and everyone comes to her party and has a fine time. The illustrations, brightly colored on white backgrounds, with figures sketched in the simplest of lines and dots, depict an ethnically mixed classroom of children. Putting aside the sexism inherent in only boys being blacklisted (or at least, the only ones willing to stand up to Kristabelle), it’s all too easily resolved, even for the second-graders this seems to be aimed at.

There is meanness and bullying at every level in schools, and it needs to be addressed in stories as well as in real life, but they must be honest stories in which the lesson does not outweigh the tale. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 1, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-55453-842-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Kids Can

Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
BRIANNA BANANA, HELPER OF THE DAY
by Lana Button ; illustrated by Suharu Ogawa

- BOOK REVIEW
MY GRAMMIE'S HOUSE
by Lana Button ; illustrated by Skye Ali

- BOOK REVIEW
THE ONLY LONELY FAIRY
by Lana Button ; illustrated by Peggy Collins

bookshelf

ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

bookshelf

Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

bookshelf

IMANI'S MOON

by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

bookshelf

Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.

The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)